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One of the most popular apps on both the iPhone and the Android has to be Bump. I see people everywhere bumping their phones together in order to get to know each other better. You can use Bump to exchange contact information, share photos, or even become friends on Facebook. As you can see from the demonstration we did in the video, it’s simple to use. Stop wasting your time manually typing someone’s name, phone number and email address into your address book. Just Bump them!

The app on your phone uses the phone’s sensors to literally “feel” the bump, and it sends that info up to the cloud. The algorithm on Bump’s website listens to the bumps from phones around the world and pairs up phones that felt the same bump. As soon as the two users confirm the bump (it only takes a few seconds for the app to ask you), the information is exchanged.

Two people who wish to Bump each other don’t have to be using the same type of device. An iPod Touch can Bump an Android, for instance. As of now, only a few phones have the sensors in them that Bump needs in order to “feel” the bumps you make. In the near future, though, all phones will include those same sensors. When that happens, the folks at Bump plan to have an app available for them all. Their goal is to see that none of us ever have to manually enter contact information again.

Be careful when you Bump! Only Bump with a partner who will be gentle to you. Your iPhone is not salsa-proof!

Special thanks to the folks at AMD for helping me to attend SXSW.

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What is Bump?

Not sure how it happened, but I ran into The Holy Grail of Synchronization – how to synchronize Microsoft Outlook (multiple locations), Google Calendar, Gmail, iPod, and mobile phone with Funambol, ScheduleWorld. I took the time to dig deeper, largely because I’ve been wanting to sync Outlook with Google (and Google with iCal) for a while now – and I’m still using Outlook 2000, which keeps certain syncing tools out of reach.

Standards to the rescue! Engtech, as described, pointed me to ScheduleWorld: “An experiment in a new kind of rich Internet application, built on the foundations of open standards that enables you to access your data from virtually anywhere using a growing number of interoperable devices and software.” Yes, it’s absolutely free – and absolutely 100x more useful than you may realize:

• Sync between countless devices, platforms (iPod included!)
• Simple and fast Calendaring, Scheduling, Tasks, Notes
• Global address book (LDAP!)
• Java Micro Edition (JME/J2ME) Client for mobile phones

Whoa. As recommended, I downloaded the Outlook SyncML client (which runs independently). Took a small bit of troubleshooting to get going, but the problems were remote – and cleared up quickly by Mark Swanson (ScheduleWorld mixmaster). In no time at all, I was able to do what I’ve always wanted to do – sync calendars, tasks, and notes through simple software, as well as have a network-accessible address book. Dude, ScheduleWorld is absolutely amazing – and free.

Syncing Outlook, OS X, Google with Ease